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WhataretheeffectsofabilitygroupingonGCSEattainment?Ireson2005BritishEducationalResearchJournalWileyOnlineLibrary

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Volume31,Issue4
August2005
Pages443458

WhataretheeffectsofabilitygroupingonGCSEattainment?
JudithIreson

, SusanHallam, ClareHurley

Firstpublished:
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August2005 Fullpublicationhistory
DOI:
10.1080/01411920500148663
Citedby:
16articles

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SchoolofPsychology&HumanDevelopment,InstituteofEducation,UniversityofLondon,25WoburnSquare,
London,WC1H0AA,UK.Email:j.ireson@ioe.ac.uk

Abstract
Theuseofabilitygroupingisfrequentlyjustifiedonthegroundsthatitisaneffectivemeansofraising
attainment.Littlelargescalequantitativeresearchhasbeenundertakensincetheintroductionofthe
NationalCurriculuminEnglandandWales.Theaimofthisarticleistoexaminetheeffectsofsettingon
students'achievementinEnglish,mathematicsandscienceGeneralCertificateofSecondaryEducation
(GCSE)examinations.Datawerecollectedfromacohortofover6000Year9studentsin45mixed
secondarycomprehensiveschoolswhowerefollowedupinYear11whentheysatGCSEexaminations.
MultilevelmodellingwasusedtoestimatetheeffectofsettingonGCSEattainment,takingaccountofprior
attainment,socialdisadvantage,genderandattendance.Therewerenosignificanteffectsofsettingin
English,mathematicsorscience.Effectsonhigherandlowerattainingstudentswerenotconsistentinthe
threesubjects.Sociallydisadvantagedstudentsachievedsignificantlylowergradesandgirlsachieved
highergradesthanboys,especiallyinEnglish.Inallthreesubjects,studentsofsimilarabilityachieved

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16/10/2016

WhataretheeffectsofabilitygroupingonGCSEattainment?Ireson2005BritishEducationalResearchJournalWileyOnlineLibrary

higherGCSEgradeswhentheywereplacedinhighersets.Theoreticalandpracticalimplicationsare
discussed.

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WhataretheeffectsofabilitygroupingonGCSEattainment?Ireson2005BritishEducationalResearchJournalWileyOnlineLibrary

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